The 32 Greatest Unscripted Movie Scenes

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  1. One of my favorites is missing here: the scene at the end of “Pirates of the Caribbean” where Captain Jack looks out to the sea and says “Now bring me that horizon” was improvised by Johnny Depp. Excellent!

    • Another great Johnny Depp adlib was the “Jar of dirt” song he sand in Dead Man’s Chest. That entire part of the scene, from the moment he popped up (after falling down the stairs) to when the cannons rolled out of the Flying Dutchman was entirely adlibbed. So all of the actor’s reactions were real! You can even catch Orlando Bloom glancing toward the crew to see if they would continue filming or not.

  2. The late Dennis Hopper’s rant in Apocalypse Now ” “Hey, man, you don’t talk to the Colonel. You listen to him….” belonged on before Pretty Womens snap & giggle scene.

  3. Not mentioned here was the phone booth scene in Rain Man (“Uh oh, fart”). Dustin Hoffman actually passed gas, and the exchange with Tom Cruise was imrovised.

  4. and what about the exploding chest of Kane in Alien?
    that whole scene was not known to anyone but the actor and director. all reactions were real, as no one expected it

  5. “Like tears in rain” is the actual spoken line. Also, Replicants do not turn themselves off, they die after a short four year lifespan.

    • That entire scene was ad-libbed by Hauer

  6. Leo di Caprio in Django Unchained, he really cut his hands in the movie but never left character, which makes the scene very memorable

  7. Emery will not have been barking at royal Marines, it will have been usmc

  8. Please, as a Marine, I ask you to change the title of #32. Drill “sergeants” are Army; in the Marine Corps it’s always Drill Instructors.

    • Katrina, you have to take into account the time period this was portraying. I am not confirming anything, just throwing the possibility out there that they MIGHT have addressed them as Drill Sergeants back then.

  9. The cannoli comment by Clemenza may not have been in the script for the movie, but it is in the book.

  10. Isn’t the “Know how I know you’re gay?” scene between Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen in The 40 Year Old Virgin?

    • Started in 40 year old virgin, Apatow thought it’d be funny to do it again seeing as he had both actors in the same film again.

  11. To write a column listing great improvised scenes and to not mention Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, A Mighty Wind, and Best in Show is to not understand the terms “improvisation”, “scene”, and “movie”. In particular, the audition scene by Parker Posey in the DVD extras of Waiting for Guffman is at once enthralling, horrifying, and is an entire scene, not a word or one line of dubious improvised provenance.

  12. You’ve never heard of James dean? Derp. This list is craaaaap

  13. One that is left out is from Armageddon; where Bruce Willis’s character lists the requests of his team to which they will accept the mission(Michael Clarke Duncan’s character states he wants to stay in the White “Horse” but it’s the White House

  14. What does bb mean

  15. surprised I didn’t see the Attica, Attica scene from Dog Day Afternoon.
    that was not in the script

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